Schools in Cuba
House Church in Cuba
God sent me to Cuba using 7 different prophetic things, visions, dreams, and prophecies.Not knowing how to proceed, I announced to the church that The Lord wanted me to go to Cuba. 2 young men of the church said they would go with me. I sent out a message to my grapevine that the Lord wanted me to go to Cuba and I needed advice. I got a little from several ministries. One piece was to go as a tourist. We went into Varadero, on the North coast of Cuba. Without giving details here, the Lord led me into an incredible relationship with a young minister of the Gospel, Willie. My original prayer was, "Lord, connect me to a revival somewhere on Earth." What wonderful mercy and grace! Jesus answered my prayers beyond anything that I could have expected. I became connected to a church-planting movement. The Cubans opened their hearts to me and we began to plant churches- 140 of them in just over 3 years! I began to be concerned. I noticed that the developing of leadership could not keep up with the revival. I knew of only 3 schools in all of Cuba, 2 underground Bible schools and a liberal seminary in Matanzas. After consulting with national leaders to be sure that I was reading things correctly, I brought in a seasoned missionary to plant Bible schools. This worked with some success, but things developed slowly. Then Dr. Howard Foltz told me about the International School of Minister (ISOM). He said that a missionary came up with an idea to record great teachers, using translators, duplicate the teachings, and make the videos available to missionaries to plant schools. The schools are available in 70 languages. I got really excited. We called Berin Gilfillan, the president of ISOM, on the spot. Soon I carried in a set of masters and a duplicating machine. Within a little while, I found 40 pastors who wanted schools. I could have had more schools but I had to organize things, raise funds, find a reliable coordinator, etc. Then I met 2 Americans who were doing the same thing. We built a strategic partnership so we wouldn't duplicate efforts. The schools have done a very good job of meeting the needs of a rapidly growing church in Cuba. The number of schools vary a great deal. The top number of schools stands at 243. Now the Cubans are assuming more and more of the responsibilities.
EL SALVADOR BIBLE SCHOOL
The previous year, my friend, Alejandro Amaya introduced me to Pastor Neto in San Miguel, El Salvador. I was told that Pastor Neto's organization proposed a test: Pastor Neto would try the school for 1 year. If he was pleased, the organization would multiply the school in many of their churches. We planted an ISOM school in San Miguel. A year passed. Carol and I were invited to El Salvador to preach a missions conference in Pastor Neto's church, all expenses paid. What a surprise was in store for us. They had planned a graduation of the Bible School to coincide with the mission conference. I preached the missions conference, and presided over the graduation of 24 students. 2 banquets also were planned. What a time we had, passing out diplomas, shaking hands and hugging necks, eating and getting to know the graduates and encouraging the church to advance in missions. To sum up: the school was a success. One married couple had planted a new church even before graduation!
Ghana, Africa
In 2007, we placed a ISOM Bible school in Sunyani, Ghana working with our partner, Bishop David Donkor. The school is in Twi and English and serves in preparing students for ministry.